The Queen gave special permission in her birthday year for a few additional garden parties to be held, and this is one of them. By the way, in the photo above she's walking with designer Bruce Oldfield, who is the Vice President of Barnardo's. He's also the designer of this repeated pink suit, which is great because it brings out appearances of a) this necklace that I love, and b) one of her more fabulous Philip Treacy hats.

The Queen wasn't present for the garden party, but she was well supported by Princess Alexandra of Kent (wearing a pearl choker of her own) and The Duchess of Gloucester (skillfully using some ruby clips to tie the color of her hat into the rest of her outfit).

(Oh, and The Queen herself? She was in casual mode at the Windsor Horse Show today. The show usually brings a few such sightings, so we'll round 'em up later on. Sunday will be the big birthday show, for which she and The Duke of Edinburgh will be accompanied by The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry.)